Carnival Splendor 4 Night Canada Cruise - CruiseXLife's Photo Review

Really enjoying your review, especially all the pictures and hints on when to get to port to board the ship, info on the secret decks and best viewing area to see all the sights when leaving port in NYC. We are so looking forward to cruising on the Splendor in early September, doing the 7 day itinerary to New England and Halifax and St. John NB. So your beautiful pictures of St. John are especially interesting for us. Stunning photos of the rainbow and sunset too! Thank you

So glad you're enjoying the review! You are going to have a great time, Halifax is also a great port stop! Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the review; I'm really enjoying it!

 

How does room service work on a cruise? Is it fully included, or is there some fee? What about packing a lunch before going out on an excursion? Do they care if you order something from room service, or just pick it up at a buffet, and pack it up to take to shore?

Room Service on a ship is very easy. You just call, order, and they bring it to your room. They have many things that are free, usually the cold things, and certain hot things have a charge. I have never had a desire to order something off of the hot menu, so everything I want has been free. As for taking it off the ship, I have never tried, nor have I heard of anyone doing it before. I know they don't like when people bring food on and off the ship, so you may get in trouble. You could always get back to the ship and eat onboard, and many excursions that go to a far away place include lunch or a place to stop for it.

Hope you like the review!

Great review! Living in New York I can't believe I still haven't sailed from here. I must rectify this.

 

Also it looks like my mom and I were on the Glory right after you last year! Had a great time on that ship and fell in love with San Juan, too. Can't wait to head back there.

Yes I really enjoyed my cruise on Glory, we had a great cruise on her. Yes you should change this, especially with sunshine coming to run these cruises next year!

Hope you're enjoying the review!

Hey guys! So sorry about being inactive for the past couple of days, I had to be away from my computer. Let's get back to the review.

We arrived at the Irving Nature Park about 10 minutes after departing from the secret beach.

We parked the car and got out. There was a cool beach here as well.

See those little specs? Those are people. The beach was HUGE.

There was a trail. I wanted to walk it, but Jac was not feeling like it today, so we decided to skip it. But many were hiking it, I bet there was a view or some sort of display up there that we missed. Oh well.

We walked out onto the beach and went over to the rocky Cliffside.

Look out in the distance and you can see the New Brunswick Coast.

The rocks were filled with sea vegetation. We took the time to admire the rocks and climb up the side of the mountain.

We enjoyed the Irving Nature Park, but for the drive time and gas we used getting down there, it was not worth it. Maybe if we did the hike or spent more time or brought books to read, but we only spent about 20 minutes there. I would recommend it to anyone who is going to do the hike, but not to anyone who just plans to visit the beach. Our secret beach was much nicer.

We left the Nature Park and headed back towards the city. On the drive back into Saint John we noticed the Reversing Falls viewpoint on the opposite side of the river. It was only around 11:30 so we decided to park the car and stop. We went onto the viewpoint and had such a great view.

The tides under the bridge

Looking across the river. Prime real estate that must be!

When we were done, we realized that there was a path under the bridge. Before, we crossed the busy highway without the crossroad. Under the bridge had a cool view.

I would definitely recommend visiting both sides of the river. You can walk over the bridge from the main area as well. We left the park and headed back in the direction of the ship.

I am enjoying your review. My last trip to Saint John I went to the "City Market". It is an indoor market with local vendors. It is within walking distance to the ship. Check out their website. It is a great place for Canadian products and food. The seafood is awesome and at good prices. I enjoyed a really good lobster roll. They also had seafood chowders. Enjoy!:cool:

Thanks for following along! I'm not sure if I got a picture, but they are any rocks that have a white rock band around the entire thing. Look them up. Are you planning a cruise on Sunshine? (:

I really wanted to do the Sunshine Journey cruise in December, but my DH has only been in his current job for a year, so he doesn't have enough vacation time for that. We did book Liberty out of San Juan for this September and really looking forward to it. :D We did the same itinerary on Valor 2 years ago, but there is just so much to see that we decided to do it again. The plan this year was an all-inclusive but when DH brought up the cruise, we decided on that instead. That is my favorite itinerary.

I'll definitely look the rocks up. Thanks!

I am enjoying your review. My last trip to Saint John I went to the "City Market". It is an indoor market with local vendors. It is within walking distance to the ship. Check out their website. It is a great place for Canadian products and food. The seafood is awesome and at good prices. I enjoyed a really good lobster roll. They also had seafood chowders. Enjoy!:cool:

I have heard about the City Market, but have never been. I will give it a try next time! Thanks for the suggestion!

I really wanted to do the Sunshine Journey cruise in December, but my DH has only been in his current job for a year, so he doesn't have enough vacation time for that. We did book Liberty out of San Juan for this September and really looking forward to it. :D We did the same itinerary on Valor 2 years ago, but there is just so much to see that we decided to do it again. The plan this year was an all-inclusive but when DH brought up the cruise, we decided on that instead. That is my favorite itinerary.

 

I'll definitely look the rocks up. Thanks!

That's so exciting! I remember reading about hoe you loved the San Juan route in my Liberty review, and I'm so glad you chose to book it again. It's going to be great! :D

We were driving back towards our last stop, one of the city viewpoints. We had seen the really cool views it had when looking through photos when we were planning Glory, but never got the chance to go up to it.

Jac says you can find these types of houses/buildings all over Sweden.

We drove our car up and parked along the side. This was the city view.

Really enjoying the Splendor! :D

After spending about 20 minute up there, we decided to leave. I would definitely recommend coming up for a quick picture. I believe the "Welcome to Saint John" sign is up there too, but we only went on the one side.

We headed to our last stop before lunch. You pass under this on the way back onto Water Street

We went back to the parking lot and dropped off the car. We would be coming back for it later. We got out and walked towards the Market Square.

I had wanted to get the traditional "Ship in Saint John" picture!

Such a pretty ship.

There are many shops and places to go here. Last time we did all of that, and it was about 1:30 and we wanted to head back to the ship. But it's a great place to have lunch, shop, or just get really pretty pictures of. the area is so lively and fun, make sure you make a stop by.

We walked back towards Splendor for lunch. Got back to the beginning of my Saint John portion and you'll see the difference in tides between the morning and now. It's so cool isn't it?

We got back onboard, dropped our morning souvenirs off in the room, and went up to breakfast. We had a pizza and some salads, which was I got lunch. There was a lady in the lido screaming at the top of her lungs "THERE'S A FIRE, MONGOLIAN WOK SET THE SHIP ON FIRE. THIS IS UNSAFE" so I made a bee line for the door. Was not in the mood for that.

We got off the ship and walked towards our car. See ya later Splendor!

We forgot to stop in here after visiting Saint Martin's (spoiler!) but forgot. Next time!

We got into the car and drove towards Saint Martins. There was a huge highway detour that was holding us all up. But the people there knew their way, and we didn't. Jacqui being smart brought her GPS just for the occasion. But that ended up taking us to a grocery store parking lot south. We eventually just went in the direction of Saint Martin (north) and prayed to find a new entrance to the highway we needed. Luckily, we did, and we were off!

Here is the airport. They only have one regular flight a day to Toronto on Air Canada, on a 50 person prop-plane. It was there when we drove by but I only managed to get the sign.

After about 40 minutes of driving, we arrived!

It took about 7 more minutes to get into the welcome village of Saint Martin. That's where the shops are, in addition to some cool photo ops.

Next: Saint Martins!

Whoever told you the Saint John airport on had one daily flight to Toronto wasn't telling you the truth.

Whoever told you the Saint John airport on had one daily flight to Toronto wasn't telling you the truth.

I just looked it up, and they have flights to Montreal and Halifax as well. Thanks for letting me know! :D

Welcome to Saint Martin!

The tides are so volatile here that the boats will be bobbing in the water, and then sitting on the ocean floor in a matter of hours. Its a really cool thing to see.

Did you know that this is the only place in the world where you can get one single photo of two covered bridges? Fun Fact :)

Such a quaint and peaceful area.

Once we were done getting some pics and hanging out in the village, we drove another block or so over to the seacaves. And what a sight they are.

The Bay of Fundy. The coast in the back is Nova Scotia.

I walked closer to get a better view. Jacqui was feeling tired and she wanted to take a snooze, and I wasn't up for the walk all the way into the caves. I have pictures from inside from my previous trip if anyone wants them.

This is a very loooooooooooong beach. But that's only because everything will go underwater. The caves, the beach, everything. You're literally walking on the seabed.

Such a beautiful coast line.

These cliffs are HUGE. You have to see them for yourself to believe it!

Pghsteelerfan, I found out I did take a picture! This is a Canadian lucky Wishing Rock!

Beaches aren't very sandy, just rocks. Similar to what you'd find in Northern Australia, just coral instead.

Lovely area. I would just love to take a book here and sit out and read all day long. Such a great way to escape the city.

Once I was done, I found Jacqui looking at the rocks and small amounts of sea life buried under them. She's a biologist so we spend a lot of time looking at the plants when we travel together. It's very interesting. We got into the car and began our drive back to Saint John. It was around 3:30 when we left.

Great review! The interior design of the ship would give me a headache though. Waaay colorful. Great itinerary though.

I am loving your review! Saint John should pay you a commission for such an in depth review and great photos! Thanks so much for posting this:)

I've only done Caribbean cruises, but after this review, I'm totally rethinking Canada. So beautiful!

Great review! The interior design of the ship would give me a headache though. Waaay colorful. Great itinerary though.

You know I thought that too but it wasn't that bad. Only the atrium and elevator lobbies are like that. But yes it was a great itinerary. Thanks for reading!

I am loving your review! Saint John should pay you a commission for such an in depth review and great photos! Thanks so much for posting this:)

Thanks so much for the kind words and for following along! It's greatly appreciated! :D

I've only done Caribbean cruises, but after this review, I'm totally rethinking Canada. So beautiful!

Exactly my thought after reading the Glory photo review on here that convinced me to book a Canadian cruise. It was well worth it. You would really enjoy it. Thanks for reading! :)

One of the road signs on the highway. Everything is in English and French.

We were so close to Canada Day, but we missed it. I wonder if Carnival would ever have a cruise that would purposefully dock here or Halifax on Canada Day That would be so cool!

Love these stop signs!

Such a beautiful little town

We were now on a quest to find a gas station. If you did not return the car with the full tank, you were charged $3.24 per liter :eek: We could not find any in the city, so we continued to drive around until we left the city again to the north side and found one just over the bridge. Pfew that was close.

Driving back into town we saw a wedding. I did remember seeing many little girls in matching dresses that morning onboard, so they may have been from our cruise. Congratulations!